The SCimPULSE foundation is a non-profit, public benefit organization based on research, innovation and education. The foundation connects people, institutions, schools and corporations, hosting an open network where potential ideas become feasible initiatives, to support targeted solutions until they achieve escape velocity or scale up to global impact

www.scimpulse.org

The Deep Games event took place in February atCERNIdeaSquare in connection withOpenCare- a project run by a consortium of partners and funded by the European Union under Horizon2020.“It was an experience to engage in discussions with physicists and researchers and place the project under the scope of an international environment" ~ Olivier de Fresnoye.”When technology collides with reality, change occurs. When people think beyond ordinary limits of what’s possible, age-old problems can be solved. There are projects that guarantee to revolutionize various facets of society, especially for those in need.

AN OPEN SOURCE AND COMMUNITY- BASED PROJECT

echOpen, the open-source, low-cost, portable ultrasound stethoscope which connects to a smartphone or tablet, could revolutionize access to healthcare by simplifying the diagnosis while opening up new opportunities for doctors in emerging countries.

Build with echOpen

Globally, medical imaging is a scarce commodity – its cost and complexity restrict its availability mostly to industrialized countries and well-equipped hospitals. EchOpen is easy to build with open-source hardware. This combination has the potential to make health diagnostics available not only for remote and marginated communities, but also for emergency response squads and hard to reach locations. It’s easy to use, producing ultrasound imagery for a wide range of examinations that can be shared in real time to obtain remote assistance, virtually by any medical center in the world.

EchOpen helps healthcare professionals by delivering faster and precise diagnostic imaging. The concept was born in late 2014 as a community initiative, gathering people interested in health and open-source solutions for the future of medicine all over the world. The progress and achievements remain on-going with a growing community of over 200 members, including doctors, engineers, programmers, radiologists etc.

The Deep Games effect

“The ability to discuss the project with mentors from different backgrounds was nourishing and intense. I’d like to say what a complete “eye-opener” this had been for me. It was exactly what I needed to bring this project further and I have walked away with the confidence and the determination to make the necessary changes. During the 2 days, we realized our strength was not being used to the maximum." ~ Olivier de Fresnoye

Challenges Ahead

echOpenis in the process of seeking collaboration with key partners and resources to support a global effort to reach project goals. Finishing the new version of the prototype with medical quality images and making the components smaller for manufacturing is the challenge ahead. The vision of this community-based open-source product is to share on a globally and distribute in Africa and South-East Asia. This new admission to healthcare will help solve problems faced by developing countries.

The humanitarian field very interested, says Olivier, whose experience includes the scientific coordination of humanitarian missions in South-East Asia. Interest has spurred widely with several NGO’s towards its accessibility to use ultrasound in medically deprived areas.

For expression of interest for echOpen please visit thewebsite. echOpen is looking for active participants, collaborators. Is that you? The echOpen community is available for anyone that wants to be part of an open science community. Hardware design, software development, or user-interest, they want to hear from you.

The SCimPULSE foundation brings people together, that share a responsibility for the future and to continuously aim to tackle solutions to big problems and make the world a better place. Ideas, technologies, and practices sparking to create a new frontier of innovation.

During these workshops, scenarios are explored to gain awareness of the possibilities and foster creative thinking within the projects. This method of hands-on and minds-on approach produced transformative results while enhancing innovation and performance.

With the focus on methodologies, tips and ideas and the interaction with different mentors has given new life to this project and enables us to achieve long-term success. These events should be held every 2 months as they add value to any project, in various stages of any development.” Olivier de Fresnoye

It's been one year since we sat the first time to organize the activities around the OPENCARE project - a project run by a consortium of partners and funded by the European Union under Horizon2020. A year of hard work, dedication, emotions and also surprises.

The role of SCimPULSE in this project is to be the partner dedicated mostly to Ethics and alternative ways of Engagement. Ethics are the branch of knowledge that deals with moral principles, in specific principles that govern a person's or an organization's behaviour or the conducting of an activity. The role of the foundation is to assess the guidelines and safeguard the principles around the digital collaboration platform. In that regard we engaged a panel of neutral reviewers with expertise in the field of medical and social care to help us on the journey. Thanks to that we were capable to support the development of a Drupal module, enabling a "consent funnel" that guarantees the community's ownership of the content while preserving the individual privacy.

Just like Ethics can be applied broadly, Engagement is also a widely used word, including both online and offline activities such as posts, social media, personal and group meetings, workshops and other events. Here we played the role of creating alternatives to the "online-only" engagement proposing the approach of "offline first - then online". The idea here was to do the initial onboarding of proposals and initiatives getting the owners of the proposals to play what we call the "Deep Games", a combination of Design Thinking and LEGO® Serious Play®. After those activities the participants will converge on the online platform hosted by the Edgeryders.

For those who have not followed the project earlier, the Edgeryders platform is the place where all the stories about care made by "communities for communities" are collected, posted and commented, as a working prototype testing for social collaboration. The intention with that is to enable conversations and the run ethnographic research (one of the many branches of big data) to discover ways to redesign the medical and social care services in Europe. The resulting research will support European legislators to create new policies according to the needs of the population.

Alas, nothing comes free of risks, so did this project: we faced unexpected challenges with the budget allocated to support up to three initiatives for engagement in the Deep Games protocol. We tried to have a backup "Call" but did not work as expected. We did have engagement in collaboration with our partners of WeMake and from the Scimpulse network, resulting in a few initiatives applying for the deep games but not in the scale that we would have had if we had the budget.

Thanks to the collaboration with WeMake we have been able to get three initiative to participate in around of activities in January 2017, with good potential.

The initiatives were a bit on the technical side in their early proposal stage but with our intervention we refocused them to think about the community for whom they are proposing their solutions.

On their side the Edgeryders also tried to mitigate the impact of this risk with the creation of Open&change, an initiative to involve more people online and that way compensate for the loss of resources, and that helped capturing more ideas and stories around the topic, to increase the research sample size.

Overall it was an effective​ -highly collaborative- mitigation effort and there is now a social commitment with the initiatives to help them get to the communities for who they are intended for.

In the meantime, the University of Bordeaux developed a graphic visualization tool that promises to render evident the interaction between people on the Edgeryders platform, fulfilling one of the initial claims of the OPENCARE project: the capability to visualize the crowd's interactions.

What's next?

Next we need you - all of you who are reading this post! - come online and tell us your story, or a story you know, about community-organized care, alternative medical or social care, hacking the traditional system, proposing how to create new ways to deliver medical services and care about each other, preferably in a community-based organization but not excluding personalized services - either paid or volunteering - that propose a new way of caring for your neighborhood, your city, your country and the European Union as a whole.

Ready to Open Care? connect here www.opencare.cc or click on the image below to discover more!

Christy Turner, a professional photographer from Calgary has been chasing
the northern lights for years and specializes in Nature, Wildlife and Landscapes and created the most thought provoking images. Christy started chasing magnetic
collisions (aurora borealis) for several years, which started as a hobby. She is recognized as an expert in this type of photography and has
appeared in several publications and TV programs in Canada. Christy is also one of the supporters of the SCimPULSE Foundation.

Photography can remind us that the world is an incredible, open place and
is ours to explore. Christy, an explorer and a storyteller offers a
gateway to the universe with her inspirational photography allowing her to
capture moments of the relatively mysterious and unknown.

Her photos can make a real connection to people, and can be used for understanding the
challenges and opportunities facing our world today. Christy tells stories in a
focused way and allows us to freeze a significant moment.

It is my job to show the world some beauty,
positivity, and re-encourage a passion for earth"

Our
Supporters

To bring about the kinds of
changes that will help raise the standards of humanity and help people live
healthier, the SCimPULSE Foundation seeks to understand and help remedy the
world’s inequities. Whether the challenge is helping the blind, a collective approach towards healthcare or creating an affordable medical device. We listen and learn so
we can identify humanity’s pressing problems that get too little attention.
Then we recognize whether we can make a meaningful difference with our
collaborations.

Our
collective efforts also depend on the support and resources of our donors, the
private sector, communities and individuals. We would like to introduce one
of our supporters, or as we like to say “heroes” who donate and contribute to
our mission.

Through The Lens

Christy was kind enough to answer a few questions and share some of her
inspiring adventures and show her perception of the world behind the lens, and
how her commitment to photography liberates the soul.

What is your
strategy for shooting the Aurora Borealis?

The aurora borealis is, like most phenomenon of nature, never a sure thing.
Even if the data, science, and local weather conditions align, it can still be
a no-show! It’s all about being patient, determined, and passionate about
playing the waiting game until the light show begins.

Where do you get your inspiration
and curiosity?

My mother has always been passionate about photography, so she is perhaps
one of my earliest inspirations and constant source of encouragement.”

How do you share your passion for
travel and sense of adventure?

It would have been impossible for an artistic person like me to travel
through countries without wanting to capture the best of them photographically.

How would you describe yourself?

I'm a person who values life experiences and
memories and want to fill my eyes with the sights, sounds,
cultures of the world. My extensive travel to over 74 countries have truly
opened my eyes to many things. I know that the opportunities I’ve been given
in are not taken lightly, and I try to take the best of what I’ve seen,
the most important of what I’ve experienced, and allow that to drive me through
my ambitions.

What is your most treasured experiences as a photographer?

My most photographic experience was
taking my mother to France in 2014. On the flight to Nice, we saw the most
incredible northern lights show that went on for hours. I took
some amazing images from the plane and the trip was perfect in every way. Seeing a beautiful part of the world with my mother and snapping photos will always be my most treasured memory.

With the rocky mountain backdrop creating an endless source of inspiration
and photographic experiences she has the opportunity to share through the lens
the jaw-dropping beauty with the rest of us.

Christy is privileged to live in a part of the world where the experience
of the Aurora Borealis is literally in her backyard.

Together with a passion for travel, photography was a natural fit, as she
is embraces every chance to capture a photographic experience. She describes
herself as a “wildcard” saying no to nothing and pushes herself constantly.

“I’m very
humbled by my surroundings with an endless

drive to share and that any of it resonates with others is a blessing”

Forging Connections

Christy had the opportunity to reconnect with Massimo Mercuri, Co-Founder
of the foundation after many years. She saw the opportunity to offer to the foundation and its mission by donating commercial photography.

Christy, thank you for your continued support of the SCimPULSE Foundation.

Donating

As with any non-profit organization, budgets and donations are what help
maximize the use of the funds for the foundation and its projects. We work in collaboration with grantees, sponsors and partners, who join with us in
pushing for new solutions and harnessing the transformative vigour of science
and technology.